Woodland school district moving forward with bond measure

The Woodland Joint Unified School District is moving forward with a facilities bond measure, which could make for a crowded November ballot.

At its Thursday meeting, the board received a presentation on the findings of a study that examined voter opinion of the bond.

The study, presented by Charles Heath of TBWB Stategies, went over the results of a voter opinion survey conducted over the weekend of Nov. 22 through 24 of last year.

Heath outlined the key findings, which showed that 69 percent of the 327 survey respondents said that there is "some" or "great" need for school district facilities to be updated.

According to Heath, this reflected a "strong perception of need for funds to upgrade facilities."

The bond will provide the district with a funding source that can be used to address some of the facility needs that are listed in the district's facility master plan.

The projects cited with having the highest priority involved core repair, renovation, safety and accessibility upgrades to classrooms, and the addition of science labs and other educational facilities.

Both Beamer Elementary and Douglas Middle schools are in need of major roof repairs due to leaks, while Plainfield Elementary School is in need of a new well pump and waste lines to the septic system. Fire alarms throughout the district also need updating, and carpets in various classrooms need to be replaced.

The total cost to implement all projects in the district's facility master plan is $72 million, an amount that 62 percent of survey participants agreed with, and the cost to address basic health and safety needs is $32 million.

Survey participants were also presented with positive and negative arguments for the facilities bond. After being exposed to both sides, 63 percent of respondents were still in favor of the bond measure, an occurrence Heath said is "rare" in studies such as this.

Heath said that the area of the survey where voters were more sensitive had to do with the tax rate associated with the bond.

"Voters want to make sure this tax rate is affordable," he said.

Heath concluded his presentation, stating that the results revealed that a bond measure placed on the November 2014 ballot "offers the best chance of passage."

Superintendent Debra LaVoi thanked him for his presentation, and let the board voice their thoughts on the issue.

Board member David Hartley was against moving forward with the bond measure, stating that "our local taxpayers do pay enough."

When put to a vote, the board voted 6-1, with Hartley against, to continue efforts to get the facilities bond measure on the November ballot. Woodland voters will also be electing school board trustees during that election and vote on a ballot measure about switching from at-large to district voting for the City Council, along with deciding on state and national races.

According to Assistant Superintendent Thomas Pritchard, the "district is in the initial stages of exploring a bond to address the critical need of upgrading and revitalizing our facilities."

Pritchard said that at this point the district will be looking at how much the bond will be and what the bond money will be purchased. These questions and others related to the facilities bond will be addressed in future meetings.